Game of daggers

Her eyes scanned the cried hoping to find a familiar face. No, hoping to find Kerian. Her search was fruitless. She had a very bad feeling about this. She a bad feeling ever since she woke up, but she had just chose to ignore it. Now, she was going to face the consequences of it.

Dan walked towards her, his grin wide and scary. She felt a shiver run down her spine.

"I remember how his majesty was adamant on not cutting anything off you, else I would have done much more than pulling your nails. But now that you had the stupid idea of attempting an escape with your toy, especially when he is not there, you'll be my source of entertainment." He said, shoving her lightly, which resulted in throwing her to the floor. She sucked in a breath as soon as she landed. She surely had a few broken ribs.

The next thing she knew, a clatter resounded next to her and she lifted her face to see a set of six daggers, of shiny and sharp looking daggers, thrown at her feet.

She risked a glance at Dan who smiled smugly, walking towards Vera.

"Look little one, this is your opportunity to leave this place. The game is very simple. You pick those knives, and shoot them at her over there. You have six tries. You aim to kill her and once she does, I'll make sure you are free." He said. Adaliah waited for the tears in Vera's eyes to fall, for her to protest and stubbornly refuse as she would do in her situation but was shocked to the core when she saw her smiling.

"Really? I'll be free?" She stuttered and Dan's grin enlarged.

"Of course, but you'll have to be careful. If you don't manage to kill her right off, she will now have the right to shoot you with her daggers, this is a terrible bet, but once you take it and win, you'll be free" Dan said and Vera nodded in understanding.

"When should I start?" She asked eagerly and a burst of raucous laughter echoed around them.

"Now" Immediately, Vera picked a dagger and threw it at her. Adaliah was too shocked to even flinch. The knife landed a few feet away from her. Vera was disappointed with her missed shot. Then beamed.

"I still have five shots anyway" She said and Dan patted her head approvingly.

"That's the spirit."

Despite the fact that Vera's shot missed her, she still felt like her heart had been pierced by a thousand of needles. The little girl she had cared for so much during these few weeks was hurling daggers at her to kill her.

"Look, the girl really feels like wailing" Said one vampire in mock pity. As soon as he said that, her eyes filled with tears. Another one of Vera's dagger landed close to her, on her right.

"It's all your fault Adaliah! You hadn't insisted we should leave, we wouldn't have found ourselves in this situation. You pretended to cared for me, you made empty promises, just for that, you merit to die!" Vera said and a round of laughter exploded in the the crowd. Her next dagger was very close to Adaliah's face.

"Why won't it work?" she screamed in frustration. She was left with half her daggers. The vampires were encouraging Vera. They all wanted to see her dead.

'No one is to be trusted, not even your own people'

Adaliah watched Vera, her face scrunched up in frustration and anger. Vera was a witch so she could be considered as one of her people. Then why was she doing this? Even if she didn't know she was a royalty, as a fellow witch, they ought to have their backs in this situation. Why was she suddenly shooting her, and telling her all those things even when they were from the same place.

A sharp pain shot into her left shoulder. She immediately lifted her hand to it. A dagger protruded from it. Vera skipped around in joy.

"Good" Dan praised, holding onto her shoulders. "Now aim for her heart, you still have two daggers" He encouraged Vera who smiled turning towards Adaliah. She calmed her heart and threw a dagger at her. Adaliah, braced herself, waiting for it. A smile spread across her lips. She had always been difficult to kill, like a weed, maybe Vera was the one who will finally succeed.

She frowned. Of course no. She had only seen death once. Why was she having such weird thoughts?

A clatter echoed, next to her and she heard Vera sobbing. Her eyes flew open, staring at the little girl before her. She had a single dagger in her hand, and was desperately trying to wipe her tears. The other vampires continued urging her, telling her, she could still kill Adaliah and that managed to calm her down and for the first time Adaliah saw her preparing herself to throw her knife at her. She had a very bad posture and held the knife as though she was about to stab someone. She was going to miss.

Vera threw the knife. It planted just between her legs. Vera had throw all her daggers and didn't manage to kill her. The environment was dead quiet till Adaliah burst into laughter. She folded into two and laughed. She didn't know why she did, but she just laughed to the extreme of getting cramps in her stomach.

"Adaliah..." Vera stuttered taking a step towards her. A warm liquid bursting from her nether regions. The vampires burst out laughing.

"I guess she is very sorry now" Said one, mockingly.

"Adaliah, I don't know what possessed me, but I didn't have any intention of killing you. I swear. I just..."

"Shut the fuck up" Adaliah whispered yelled, shocking, herself and Vera. Adaliah stood erect to look at Vera who flinched taking a couple of step back. Adaliah at that moment was anything but friendly. "Don't insult my intelligence, no one had done so and left unscathed" What she said shocked everyone, even her. Why were words pouring out of her mouth so easily? It was starting to get ridiculous. The vampires stood quiet, scrutinizing the woman standing before them. She looked taken aback by what she said, before her expression morphed in a mask of indifference. Those observant enough saw the glint in her eye changing.

"Adaliah, I'm sorry. I'm sure if you miss all your shots as well they will let us go. We will live together as sisters..."

"What kind of sister is frustrated by not being able to kill her sister? I cared for you. I brought you dinner, but you ungrateful little thing, you..." Adaliah picked a dagger, weighing the article, studying the blade. Vera's heart skipped a bit. She turned towards Dan.

"Please help me, she is going to kill me!" She held onto Dan's waist, but the latter pried her off him, throwing her away. "It's her turn now. She didn't move from her position, so I except you to stay still" Dan said coldly. A round of laughter exploded around them and Vera lifted her face, just in time for Adaliah to crouch to her level.

Her blood ran cold at their proximity.

"No one can miss at this distance, the little girl is the death." And indeed, they were at arm length!